A small child runs across the screen. He trips. Diving face first into the bricked corner of a short partition. All the “Dad Ad” ideas I’ve ever had focused on stereotypical dad traits: strength, protectiveness, intelligence, nostalgia. And Hyundai just relaunched their campaign that rolls all those things up into one great piece. Clear concept. Amazing execution. It’s rare that an idea can delineate a benefit in execution this succinctly. And yet, that benefit is not a new one. We’ve seen brake assist features on cars in ads before. And it’s a smart move to focus on one feature of an entire automobile. But that availability is only going to grow as technology in cars takes off, that is, until finally shutting off entirely.

Will all car ads look like this from now on? Or simply be paired into a more encompassing campaign which includes the lazy, dreaded car on mountain, or car on desert, or car on FUCK YOU CAR ADS. Sorry. I just can’t stand car ads. No matter how interesting they look. And yet I love this one. Anyway, my point is that the only interesting ads are the ones that focus on one benefit. And if that’s enough to garner eyeballs, do cars co.’s even need to really focus on more?

As Google prepares to release their driverless cars into the wild (realistically) BY THE END OF THE DECADE. It’s funny to consider how these benefits will be a thing of the past, how aesthetic design, safety features, mpg, brand will all be a thing of the past. No really. If your head is down during 90% of your travel time, whose going to care what those around you are driving? What benefit can a car have, at that point, that will beat out Angry Birds, or Facebook, or breakfast (w/e that is)? Ads will no longer be able to rely on old ideas of what a car is to a person: your daddy. But interestingly and never before seen, nor will they be able to rely on mountain soaring or desert donuts to sell cars, anymore. I can’t wait.

Auto insurers, which collect more than $200 billion in premiums each year in the United States, would initially see profits rise as accidents declined and payments to customers dropped but would eventually see something like 90 percent of premiums disappear. Health insurers would also have to give up revenue as car-related injuries plummeted. Governments would lose fines, because cars would obey all traffic laws, but police forces would need fewer officers on the road, and prisons would need less capacity as drunk drivers kept their freedom. Utilities would lose revenue because traffic lights would no longer be needed, and highways and streets wouldn’t need to be lit—after all, the cars can see in the dark. Parking lots, which cover a third of the ground in some cities, would pretty much disappear, while freeing land and reducing property values. And so on.

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Chunka Mui on how driver-less cars will drastically change the travel landscape as we know it. h/t Daily Dot